Chapter 7
Ever since she executed Kakistos, Faith had begun to improve, and slowly, her personality began to revert to her old self.
This was mostly thanks to Xander, who was always there offering her support and advice. Also, Faith had begun taking fencing lessons from the group, and Cordelia and she became regular sparring partners.
"Lean a bit more to the right with that swing. That's right." Xander watched carefully as the two girls sparred with blunted blades.
"Cordelia, you're overextending again. Faith, keep your swings narrower, you're telegraphing your moves."
The girls took his advice silently, and other than his words, all the sounds that could be heard from the training room were the clash of metal and their shouts every time they swung.
Cordelia managed to make an excellent parry, and used the opportunity to kick Faith in the chest, knocking her back, but despite the surprise strike, Faith managed to stay on her feet.
As she prepared to counterattack, she felt a strong shiver pass over her. She shook it off and charged Cordelia, who was surprised when Faith attacked with much greater skill, strength and speed.
"Wow, how did you get so good?" Cordelia winced as Faith sent her sword sailing out of her hands.
"I have no idea." Faith was just as confused as she was, but Xander frowned deeply as he picked up his helmet.
"Buffy, are you alright?" Xander contacted Buffy.
"I'm fine, Xander. What happened?" Buffy replied quickly.
"Faith was Called just now. If you're all right, then that means that Kendra has fallen." Xander sighed.
"I'll go and see Giles. Hopefully he'll be able to find out what happened to her." Buffy replied and closed the vox link.
"I have some bad news, Buffy." Giles turned towards his charge as soon as she walked in his house.
"It's about Kendra?" Buffy surprised him.
"How did you know?" Giles frowned.
"Faith is her successor. Xander called me a few minutes ago."
"I see. Well, I just got a call from Sam Zabuto. Kendra was fighting a nest of demons when the building she was in collapsed on top of her. The local paramedics managed to pull her out before anyone else could reach her. I am told that she died on the way to the hospital, but the medics managed to revive her." Giles began.
"So she's alive?" Buffy smiled lightly at the thought that her friend was not dead after all.
"She's very badly injured, and is currently in surgery. From what Sam told me, it is very likely she will lose an arm and a leg, and the doctors don't think she will walk again as her spine had suffered a lot of damage." Giles said sadly.
"Tell him to bring her here. I don't care what he and the other Watchers have to do, but get her to the factory." Buffy said in a firm tone.
"Buffy, I don't think…" Giles began, but one look from her had him quiet and reaching for the phone.
"Xander, turns out Kendra's still alive but she's badly banged up. I asked Giles to arrange for her to be brought here. Get Willow to prepare a medical area with as much equipment she can manage." Buffy told him and sat down and watched as Giles was busy talking with his colleague.
It took a lot of work on the Watcher's part to have Kendra brought to Sunnydale, and Buffy had to make a few rather threatening phone calls, but two days later, she was flown in and taken to the factory. At the same time, Buffy discovered a student in the school was using some sort of chemical cocktail to improve himself, but only ended up turning into a homicidal maniac. In a bad mood about Kendra's situation, Buffy spared him no mercy and killed him quickly.
"How is she?" Buffy turned to Willow as she examined the unconscious Kendra.
"If she wasn't a Slayer, she would have been dead already. Her right lung has been pierced by a pipe, and since it was so badly damaged, it has already been removed. Her right arm and leg have also been amputated. Her spine is in pieces, so she'll never move anything below her neck. Fortunately, other than a bad concussion, her brain is in good health. However, when you take into account the broken bones, injured organs and tissue, I don't see how we can help her. The best thing we can do is to grant her the Emperor's mercy." Willow concluded with a sigh.
"I will… fight. Help… me." They were surprised when they heard Kendra's weak voice. Before they could react, she passed out again.
"Surely there must be something you can do? Perhaps if you replaced the damaged organs…" Buffy was not a Tech priest, so her knowledge was limited.
"I need time to think. Give me a couple of yours." The redhead sighed and walked out of the medical area.
"Did you figure something out?" Buffy asked as soon as Willow returned.
"Yes. I debated many possibilities in my mind, but the fact remains that I am not an apothecary, and my knowledge of medicine is hardly the best, which greatly limited my options. So, after thinking things through, I see only one option open to us. To inter her into a Dreadnaught." Willow said with a heavy sigh, already feeling the amount of work that would take.
"You can construct a Dreadnaught?" Buffy was shocked. Sure, Willow managed to create Xander's armor, but a Dreadnaught was something more even more complex.
"It will take me about a week or so to create the core tomb that will hold her. Once she's inside, she'll be out of danger. The rest of the machine however will take many months to complete." Willow yawned.
"You seem troubled." Buffy frowned.
"It's the constructor. Using it is very mentally taxing. Also, as the full moon was recently, Oz was unable to help me as much as usual. Now, this project is going to add even more difficulties to us. I'll have to put a stop to all other projects until this is done." Willow replied.
While the group had plenty of equipment for the current situation, Willow had been busy increasing the security of the factory. Stationary heavy bolter turrets had been hidden in strategic points, while a few combat servitors, heavily armed and armored stood silently in hidden alcoves at strategic weak points of the factory, ready to unleash their full fury on any intruder foolish enough to trespass around the factory.
"Have you thought about adding more adepts?" Buffy asked.
"Yes, but so far, I haven't found anyone suitable. It's not just being smart, it takes other qualities as well to be able to handle the amount of work we're doing here." Willow replied.
True to her word, Willow managed to construct the core tomb in just a week, and Kendra was placed within after a lengthy surgery. The device looked like a metal box seven feet tall, five feet wide and three deep, with access ports in various parts. It had an internal power supply, but that was for emergencies, as it was currently linked with the factory's primary generator, and would later be connected to the Dreadnaught's reactor. Inside the tomb, Kendra was immobilized and attached to various devices that took over the function of her various organs, while a mind-impulse unit connected to her brain allowing her to use the auspex and vox unit attached to the tomb to speak and see what was around her.
"…and it will be a while before we can build the rest of the machine, so until then, you'll be immobile." Willow was explaining the situation to Kendra as Buffy and Faith walked in.
"It is good to see you, Buffy, even if it's a bit strange seeing you indirectly." Kendra's voice echoed from the vox unit.
"It is good to see you as well, Kendra. Don't worry, you'll be back out there kicking ass in no time." Buffy grinned, but inwardly, her heart was full of pain. She had damned her friend to centuries, if not millennia of combat. Locked within her metal tomb, Kendra would endure for generations unless she was destroyed.
"Who is your friend?" Kendra noticed Faith standing next to Buffy.
"This is Faith. She's your successor." Buffy replied.
"Nice to meet you. I'm sorry about what happened to you." Faith said nervously.
"I'll still be able to fight, and that's what's really important. Protecting humanity to our last breath is our foremost duty." Kendra replied. "Buffy, is my sword here as well?"
"Yes. It was a bit banged up, but Oz fixed it up quickly." Buffy replied.
"I want you to have it, Faith. Use it to cut down all who threaten mankind."
Faith examined the chainsword Oz handed to her, admiring the golden Aquila adorning the guard, as well as the inscriptions on the blade itself. On both sides of the blade, Xander had personally inscribed the Litany of Hate and had the blade blessed. She flicked the activator switch, and watched as the blade revved up and the row of jagged teeth began to whir.
"I would be honored to wield your weapon into battle." Faith turned the sword off and offered Kendra a salute with it.
Meanwhile in city hall, the former servant of Kakistos, Mr. Trick was meeting with the mayor.
"The Slayer has been causing me a lot of headaches lately, Mr. Trick. I want her handled, permanently." The mayor's tone was ice cold.
"I have seen her fight; vampires wouldn't stand a chance against her. She's very skilled and well armed. And that's just the slayer. What about her massive friend?" Mr. Trick remembered vividly the armored behemoth that incinerated dozens of vampires with a single attack. Flamethrowers were truly the worst weapon a vampire could face.
"I am certain that a man of your ability will find a way." The mayor ignored the man's concerns.
"A direct assault on the Slayer and her friends will never work. The best method would be to distract her from our activities with diversions." As much as he wanted to kill Buffy, Trick knew that such a task was much easier said than done. He had observed her fights, and he knew extremely well what a daunting task taking her down would be. Xander was another matter altogether. With his armor, immense size and strength, he was an opponent only the most foolish would assault. One also had to consider the simply insane amount of holy symbols Xander had adorning his armor, further increasing the difficulty evil beings would have in fighting him.
"Very well. For now, we will refrain from assaulting the Slayer and her group directly, but I will not allow anything to interfere with my plans. I have worked too long to let some little girl stop me when I am so close to my goal." The mayor said after a minute, concluding the meeting.
A few days later, the waning moon illuminated four people observing the factory from a nearby hill. A well built man with graying hair was watching the factory with a pair of night-vision binoculars, while a blond woman was sitting next to him, writing something in a notepad. Behind them, a man with messy hair and glasses was busy playing chess with a large man with dark skin and a ski hat on his head.
"Anything interesting, sir?" The woman asked the man with the binoculars.
"Nothing yet. All I've seen in the past couple of days are some teenagers coming and going, and those few trucks that have been bringing in raw materials." The man sighed.
"Well sir, perhaps we should take a closer look." The woman suggested.
"I wouldn't suggest that." Everyone jumped in shock as the mechanical voice that suddenly echoed in their little hideout. The quartet's surprise quickly turned to shock when they saw just what was the source of the voice.
Xander was standing calmly, Incinerator leveled at the group.
"How the hell does something like that sneak up on us?" The graying man turned to shout at his team.
"I can be very sneaky when I want to be. Now, why don't we take a little walk down to the factory?" He gestured with his gun, and the group reluctantly followed.
"So, who do you work for?" The graying man asked as they walked towards the annex.
"We'll be asking the questions for now. Now, get in before I decide to save myself the trouble and torch you all." Xander snapped.
"Hey Xander, that you? It's almost time for training." Faith walked out of a room, holding both her chainsword and a practice sword, but the grin on her face faded when she saw Xander's prisoners.
"Sorry, but I can't work with you tonight. Do me a favor and call Buffy, will you?" Xander told her and led the group to their meeting room. It was in the middle of the annex, and had no windows.
"Buffy's on her way. Who are they?" Faith joined them a few moments later.
"That's what we're going to find out. Now, I'm sure Cordelia is itching to get started, so why don't you go and join her?" Xander waited until she was out before he took off his helmet.
"Now, how about you introduce yourselves? I'm guessing you're most likely in the military." Xander sat on a special chair designed to endure his weight.
"Colonel Jack O'Neill, USAF. Captain Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson and Murray." The graying man introduced himself and his team.
"Alexander Harris, First Company Terminator-Chaplain, Grey Knights Chapter. A pleasure to meet you." Xander grinned.
"Warhammer 40K. I knew the armor looked familiar." Carter exclaimed.
"You played the game?" Xander asked.
"A bit in college. I never was a serious player though." She shrugged.
"So, what happens now?" O'Neill interrupted before his SIC could get going.
"We'll wait until Buffy arrives, then we'll talk." Xander shrugged.
"And who's Buffy?" O'Neill asked.
"Inquisitor Elizabeth Summers, Ordo Malleus." Buffy said as she walked in the room.
"You got here quickly." Xander turned to her.
"I was nearby when Faith called me. Now, would you mind telling me why the USAF is observing us?" Buffy's tone and posture was calm and pleasant, but the quartet still became nervous as she leveled her gaze at them. The title of Inquisitor was not known for it's pleasantness.
"I'm afraid I am not at liberty to discuss our assignment." O'Neill said firmly.
"Then I guess there's no point in letting you live, is there?" Buffy put her bolt pistol on the table. The unsubtle gesture couldn't be more clear to the quartet. O'Neill stared at the weapon for a few moments before he spoke.
"Alright. We believed that this factory was an operations site for hostile extraterrestrials."
"You expected to find xenos here? Why is that?" Buffy's eyes narrowed.
"That's classified." O'Neill said curtly.
"Colonel, you're in the same room with a Zeta and Epsilon class psykers. If you continue to be stubborn, we can always get the information we want in a more direct manner." Buffy grinned.
"Sir, perhaps we should give them some information." Carter turned to her superior.
"Alright, Carter. Go right ahead." O'Neill sighed. If they were facing telepaths, it was indeed pointless to attempt to hide anything. The best decision would be to give as little as possible and still appear cooperative.
"Well, it's like this. Back in the 1920's in Giza, an archeological expedition discovered a very unusual artifact. A few years ago, we discovered that it is an ancient device that allows interplanetary travel between any two such devices in the galaxy. We've been using ours ever since to explore the galaxy." Carter's words shocked the two teenagers.
"And I take it you encountered hostile xenos out there." Buffy concluded.
"They're called the Goa'uld, and they once ruled this world as gods. They are a parasitic species that uses humans as slaves as well as hosts." Daniel joined in.
"What?" Buffy's eyes burned as the air in the room grew cold for a second.
"You expected to find such creatures here?" Xander asked.
"Your factory's purchasing activities caught our attention. We've been trying to determine what a Goa'uld stranded on Earth would try and gather, and your factory raised enough red flags to warrant further investigation." Carter explained.
"This is most unwelcome news. This world is not capable of fighting such a threat." Buffy sighed. These news on top of the knowledge about the constant demonic threat was indeed most worrisome.
"We've been fighting them pretty successfully so far. We even took out two ships belonging to one of the bastards about a year ago." O'Neill said proudly.
"That is indeed a worthy accomplishment. Perhaps we can help each other. We need more staff for our factory. If you provide a few candidates that would be willing to be inducted into the Adeptus Mechanicus, we will provide you with better weapons and equipment. Kendra, what do you think?" Buffy turned to her vox unit. An Inquisitor always tried to turn even the worst situation to their advantage.
"I would be honored to join them as soon as Willow finishes her work on me." Kendra's voice echoed from the vox.
"Who's that?" O'Neill asked.
"Kendra is a comrade that was heavily injured recently. We managed to recover her and she's currently placed in a Dreadnaught core tomb waiting for the rest of the machine to be built." Buffy replied. As O'Neill opened his mouth to speak, Carter leaned in and told him what a Dreadnaught was. O'Neill released an impressed whistle when she finished and a grin spread on his face.
"You are all heavily armed. May I ask why do you need so much weaponry for?" Murray asked.
"This world is not as pleasant as most people think. There are things lurking in the shadows and praying on humanity. That is what we fight." Buffy replied.
"We are agents of the Ordo Malleus. That is our purpose and duty on this world." Xander added.
"Daemon hunters?" You're telling me you're fighting actual demons?" Carter exclaimed.
"Is Angel here?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah. I'll go get him." Xander walked out of the room.
"Are you sure they're not just aliens?" Carter asked.
"You could look at them that way, and as much as I hate to admit it, not every type of demon is bent on destroying mankind, but most are." Buffy shrugged.
"You know I hate it when you send holy boy after me." Angel walked in the meeting room, still wincing from being near Xander's armor.
"It hasn't killed you yet. Now, would you be so kind to show your other face to my guests?" Buffy grinned as the group reflexively jumped back when Angel's face turned demonic.
"Is that all?" Angel asked. Once Buffy nodded, he turned and walked away.
"Was that a vampire?" Carter asked nervously.
"Yes. Angel is on our side, though. I take it you believe me now?" Buffy grinned as they nodded.
"That is why, as much as I'd like to help you, we are needed more here. This town is a hotspot for demonic activity, and we can't leave."
"Why do you need more people for?" Carter asked.
"We need more tech priests to work in the factory. There are tasks that the servitors simply cannot perform. We have only two at the moment, and they're badly overworked. If you agree, when you return to your base, I will also send one of them with you in order to screen potential candidates. As a sign of good faith, we will also give you some weapons you can test. Is that acceptable?" Buffy replied.
"I have to contact my superior about this." O'Neill said after a few moments.
"Follow me. And yes, the line is very secure." Buffy led him out of the room.
AN/ Alright, I guess this is where I explain a few things. The most obvious issue is Kendra. She will be transfered to the SGC by the end of the season, and WILL NOT take part in the action. I'm sure all Stargate fans who are reading this can imagine what a Dreadnaught can achieve there, and yes, she can pass through the Stargate. I will be bringing in several scientists and/or technicians from the Stargate show into Sunnydale, but again, they will not play a major role. Second, yes I did cancel Slayerfest 98. The Mayor will work mostly below the radar, using less direct methods to achieve his goals. Like I said in the last chapter, he will Ascend, but it will be a lot more difficult to do so for him.
